Nadal officially back at No. 1

Nadal officially back at No. 1

Madrid, Oct 7 (EFE).- Spain's Rafael Nadal officially returned to No. 1 in the rankings on Monday after making the final at the China Open.

Novak Djokovic defeated Nadal 6-3, 6-4 Sunday in the final in Beijing, but the Spaniard grabbed the No. 1 spot from the Serbian.

Djokovic, who has held the top spot in the rankings for a total of 101 weeks in his career, still has a shot at finishing the season on top of the tennis world.

The Serbian star, however, will have to win out, taking the titles at the Masters 1000 event in Shanghai, the Paris Masters, the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London and the Davis Cup final, which also counts for ranking points.

Djokovic would pile up 4,035 ranking points by winning all these events.

Nadal, who has 11,310 points, needs to earn 1,340 ranking points to stay at No. 1.

In Beijing, Djokovic ended his three-match losing streak to Nadal, who beat him in the French Open semifinals, the Masters 1000 event in Montreal and the U.S. Open final.

Nadal is No. 1 for the first time since mid-2011, thanks, in large part, to his dominating performance on hard courts.

The Spaniard was out of action for seven months from mid-2012 until early 2013 due to a serious knee injury and illness.

Djokovic wrested the No. 1 ranking away from Nadal in July 2011 and, after relinquishing it a year later to Roger Federer, grabbed it back in November 2012 and had held it since.

This is Nadal's third stint at No. 1, having previously held the top ranking in 2008-2009 and 2010-2011.